Reed rolled his eyes and the children went from joyful to scared. I laughed to myself at the hatred the children took to Evelyn within seconds.

Everybody's mood dropped when she entered the room, even Tris and Kayla's.

She was wearing a tight dress which was extremely short and unflattering. Her heels were high once again and her makeup was very over the top.

"Come on, let's go and get a drink babe." she said as she grabbed Reed's hand.

She scowled at me as she linked their arms and dragged him out of the room.

He seemed reluctant to leave but didn't want to cause a scene so left the room with her, leaving me with the kids.

They seemed upset to have been left by their uncle but I tried my best to distract them and soon found myself playing games with them to pass the time.

~

Before I knew it, both of the children were becoming sleepy. I hadn't realised how late it'd gotten.

Evelyn had obviously been trying her hardest to keep Reed away from me, which I found amusing seeing as we live together.

I watched the two children fall asleep slowly as I was approached by a tall, fit looking man.

He had dark brown hair and was extremely well built, with kind eyes and a little bit if stubble on his jaw. He was very tall and shadowed over me, with a smile of his face.

He was wearing casual clothes and held a beer in his hand, I assumed he was a part of Reed's gang.

"Hey." he said. "Can I sit?"

"Sure." I nodded, slightly surprised.

"I see the kids have tired you out." he laughed as he took the seat beside me.

"Definitely, but I don't mind." I smiled.

"I'm Zach." he said, putting his hand out towards me.

"Julia." I said as I reached to shake his hand.

"Oh yeah, you're the famous hostage around here. I thought I recognised you." he chuckled.

"That would be me." I sighed. "You're a part of the Vipers I assume?"

"Yep, I joined the gang a couple of years ago."

Zach and I began talking and he was a really nice guy. I could see myself getting along with him well, we talked for what seemed like hours but the time flew by.

I was weirdly comfortable around him and I could tell that we could become great friends.

After a while, Dawn and Matteo were ready to leave due to their sleepy kids. By the time they were out of the door, Ellie and Benji were practically snoring, so Zach and I helped carry them out to the car.

"Thanks for looking after my babies so well Julia. You're a natural." Dawn said.

"Thanks, i've had a lot of babysitting practice I guess." I laughed, not wanting to unload my orphan past on her too soon.

"Well, you're a lifesaver."

She pulled me into a tight hug which I wasn't expecting and said something in my ear.

"I'm so glad Reed met you." she whispered, making me blush.

I was so glad to be accepted into their big family. As much as Reed annoyed me sometimes, I couldn't help but be grateful for the amazing people he'd brought into my life.

"I should probably go soon too, I've got an early morning tomorrow." Zach said, looking at me.

"Oh, well it's been really nice meeting you." I said.

"You too." he chuckled. "Here, lets exchange numbers. Maybe we could catch up sometime?"

"Oh yeah, I'd like that."

After that, I said goodbye to Zach and he left the house. I was enjoying getting to know all of the people around here.

After all, I could be around for a while.

Once he'd left, I walked back into the house to find Ivy and Blade sat closely together on the sofa, whispering and giggling like a couple of teenagers.

I didn't want to disturb them, so decided that I'd just call it a night and head upstairs to bed.

As I did, I couldn't help but get caught up in the thoughts of Dawn's passing comments, as well as Blade's from the afternoon.

Did it really seem as though Reed and I could be a couple? I really hoped not. I didn't want to make anything too complicated between us.

When I reached the top of the stairs, I came face to face with none other than Evelyn.

She stood opposite me with her hands on her hips, narrowing her eyes at me.

"Where do you think you're going?" she snarled.

"To bed?"

"You need to stay away from my Reed." she stated randomly.

"Sorry, no can do. We kind of live together." I said.

"Well you won't be living here for long. Soon enough, I'll be Mrs Eastwood and I'll make sure my dear hubby kills you off." she sneered.

"Good luck with that." I said as I attempted to walk into my room.

"I know what game you're trying to play. You want to be with Reed but he loves me, so you need to get over it."

"Oh my god lady, you need to shut the hell up and move out of my way. I don't know how many times I need to say this to get it in your thick head, but I am not interested in Reed."

All of a sudden, Evelyn let out a piercing shriek and clung to the side of her face with closed eyes.

"What the hell is going on here?" Reed boomed from behind me.

I spun around, to see an angry look on his face and I wasn't sure what he'd just seen.

"This stupid housemate of yours just hit me!" Evelyn squealed. "I was just trying to be nice but she-she slapped me across the face, baby."

She ran over to Reed and nestled her face in his chest, causing my anger levels to rise.

"What are you talking about? I didn't lay a finger on you and even if I did, your face is filled with enough plastic that you wouldn't have even felt it!"

I looked down over the balcony to see a crowd of people formed in the hallway, looking up at us, watching the scene unfold.

I could see everybody sniggering at the comments I'd just made but Reed didn't seem impressed and was somehow fooled by her false tears.

"That's enough Julia! You need to apologise." he said.

"Are you kidding me right now Reed? You're sticking up for this barbie doll?"

"I'm his future wife!" she stated.

"Yes, she is." he said. "Now apologise."

"Screw you...you deserve each other!" I yelled, before storming into my room and slamming the door, locking it to ensure he couldn't come in.

I fell back against the door and slid my way down to the floor, burying my face in my knees.

I felt myself welling up and tears began streaming down my face. I wasn't usually a crier, but something about this situation just got to me.

I suppose it was the fact that he'd betrayed my trust once again. I thought we were in a good place, but he always seems to take us back to square one.

Blade and Dawn were wrong. Me and Reed could never be a couple, we could barely even be friends.

Reed's POV

I'd been avoiding Julia all night. After watching her with the children, she became even more attractive to me and I needed to stop myself.

She was already looking gorgeous with her messy bun and cycling shorts but watching her motherly instincts take over was just another level.

I found myself needing to get these thoughts out of my mind. I had other things to worry about like the opposing gang who are ready to attack any day now or detective Hayes trying to lock me away.

I needed to stop myself from getting any closer to Julia than I already had done, so what better way than to spend the night with Evelyn. The woman I hate with a passion...the woman I'm going to be spending my entire life with.

When I saw Evelyn and Julia arguing at the top of the stairs, I knew they were about to cause a scene.

The hate Evelyn has for Julia is obvious, although I could only bring it down to jealousy.

I rushed to stop their argument when I overheard Julia saying that she's not interested in me. Of course she's not. I don't want her to be because I'm not interested in her either.

My heart stung for a second for some unknown reason, until I remembered my place. I interrupted them and told Julia to apologise, although I had to hide the fact that I found her insults amusing.

When I took Evelyn's side, I could see the pain in her eyes.

I didn't want to do it but I had to. I need to keep her away from me for my own sanity and her safety.

I don't care if Evelyn gets hurt because of me and I don't care how bad that sounds.

But if Julia got in anymore danger, I couldn't deal with it. That's why I've got to stop whatever is happening between us.

I've got to focus on my stupid engagement to Evelyn.

When Julia screamed at me, I knew that my plan had worked, no matter how much it hurt her. I just had to remind myself of my reasoning and let it go.

I'm a gang leader. I don't get my feelings hurt. I'm heartless.

I just need to keep reminding myself of that.

Julia's POV

At around 3AM, I found myself lying in bed watching TV to distract myself,

I wanted to go downstairs to get something to eat, but I didn't want to risk being seen by anyone.

After a while, I heard a soft knock on my door.

"Who is it?" I shouted.

"It's Ivy..and Blade."

I got out of bed and walked over to unlock the door. When I opened it, I was faced with Blade and Ivy, holding blankets, ice cream and pillows and I couldn't help but laugh.

"What are you doing?" I laughed.

"We thought you could do with some cheering up." Blade said as he pushed past me into the room.

"So we thought we could have a sleepover!" Ivy chirped excitedly.

"A sleepover? Isn't that a little too 'childish' for a gang member?" I giggled towards Blade.

"What can I say? I'm a great friend." he shrugged whilst flopping onto my bed. "So, we're going to watch a movie, gossip and whatever else you girls do, and then I'll sleep on the floor and you girls can take the bed, okay?"

"You know, for a 6'4", killer named Blade, you're a really sweet guy."

"Don't you dare tell anybody about this, I can't have it ruining my reputation." he said.

"Oh, what reputation?" Ivy mocked, hitting him with a pillow.

"Anyway, how are you feeling? We heard what happened." Blade said.

"I can't believe he took Evelyn's side!" Ivy exclaimed.

"I know, I'll be fine, I'm just getting really tired of Reed. One minute we're friends and the next minute he hates me...I can't keep up. I guess I don't know him as well as I thought." I sighed as Ivy hugged me from the side.

"Well, we're here to cheer you up!" Ivy said.

"You guys are the best, thank you."

"We also brought you some ice cream from downstairs." Blade said as he handed me a tub and spoon.

I looked down to see a tub of cookie dough ice cream. Reed's favourite, of course. Now, I wish that I didn't know that.

"Thanks guys."

"I know you don't want to hear this, but Reed probably had his reasons for acting like that." Blade said.

"Yeah, his fiancé is the reason." I scoffed.

"No, he hates Evelyn. I just think he's trying to push you away."

"Why would he want to push her away?" Ivy asked.

"You've been messing with his head since you guys' met." he laughed. "He doesn't know how to deal with it, so he just does what Reed does best. He focuses on work and pushes his feelings as far away as possible."

"Nice try Blade, Reed doesn't have feelings remember?" Ivy joked, jumping under the blanket next to him.

"You'd be surprised."

"Well, I shouldn't be surprised that he took Evelyn's side. They're getting married and she's right, I'll have to move out sometime soon. He'll probably just kill me to get me out of the way." I sighed.

Both of my friends suddenly began to laugh hysterically at my comment.

"What?" I said.

"You think Reed's going to kill you?" Ivy laughed.

"Trust me, you don't have to worry about that." Blade said.

"Whatever, I'm sick of talking about Reed. Let's just watch the movie." I stropped.

They exchanged glances and then began to laugh once again. This was going to be a long night.